Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 17

c- i I i DECATUR HERALD Decatur, Illinois, Thursday, May 22, 1980 i issbility rethBes sWBWup cntaes Anniversaries 1940, in Hooppole. Mr. McCartney is engaged in farming and Mrs. McCartney is a homemaker. They are the parents of Michael of Fenton, and Steven of Cisco.

There are three grandchildren. Kuntzi Mr. and Mrs. Shelby Kuntzi, Boiling Springs Road, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Scovill Club House, 3909 W.

Main St. Friends and relatives are invited. Mr. Kuntzi and the former Evelyn Mae Totten were married May 17, 1930, in Ramsey. Mr.

Kuntzi is retired from Morehouse and Wells Co. and Mrs. Kuntzi is a homemaker. --2 3 :f.2 Vv i.f "7 Pierson Mr. and Mrs.

Louis L. Pierson of Assumption will celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary with an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at their home, 119 S. Hickory St. The open house will be hosted by a niece and her husband, Ralph E.

and Marilyn (Young) Pryor of Princeton. Mr. Pierson married the former Marguerite L. Hughes on May 23, 1917 Pana. He is retired from the State of Illinois.

She is a homemaker. They have no children but reared their niece who was orphaned at age four. Brame Mr. and Mrs. Earl Brame of War-rensburg will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a family dinner Sunday.

Mr. Brame and the former Esther Coffey were married May 24, 1930 in Decatur. Mr. Brame is a retired farmer. Mrs.

Brame is a retired secretary to the superintendent of schools in Warrensburg Community School District 11 and is a homemaker. They are the parents of Mrs. Carroll (Mary) Koonce of Niantic; Robert Brame of Warrensburg and Mrs. Arnold (Karen) Raiha of Decatur. There are five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Robert They are the parents of Mrs. (Connie) Loveless of Decatur. There are four grandchildren. Nichols payers $14.2 million. This year, the cost is $675 million, an almost fivefold increase.

It is harder to gauge the cost in Seattle because it's lumped in with pension costs from local systems all over the state. But state pension costs have more than doubled in years: from $125 million to an estimated $265 million in fiscal 1981. Moreover, the firefighters' pension systems in Seattle and Washington are funded on a shaky pay-as-you-go basis, without building up funds for future retirees. Both cities are working to plug some of the most gaping loopholes with far better results so far in Washington, D.C. In the late 1960s, the percentage of disability retirements in Washington, D.C, reached a high of 98 percent.

Thomas O'Brien, assistant city budget director, said disability rules were tightened in the mid-70s and again last November, gradually reducing the rate of such retirements to about 44 percent. O'Brien noted several unusual provisions that had made it easy to retire on disability. The Aggravation Clause allowed retirement if a person could show that further duty would likely aggravate his condition, even if his job hadn't caused the condition. That was repealed last November. In addition, until 1975 the city bore the burden of proving a person was not disabled.

Now the person making the claim has to prove the disability. In New York City, the "heart bill" still makes it simple to retire on disability. The law says, in effect, that any firefighter or police officer who develops heart trouble can retire on disability without having to prove the ailment had anything to do with duty. City actuary Jonathan Schwartz says the New York City firemen's system has been paying out more than it has been taking in for two years in part because half the city firefighters who have been retiring do so on disability. "Not to overdramatize it, but if there is no change in the law, the fund will go broke by 1990," said Schwartz.

By LEE MITGANG Associated Press Writer It's a deal difficult to pass up: retire at half pay before age 50 and enjoy a tax-free income for life, often with full protection. And when you die, your spouse continues to collect. That's the deal many cities provide police officers and firefighters who are injured or become chronically ill because of their jobs. In some of those cities, disability pensions are remarkably easy to get. So easy in two cities especially Seattle and Washington, D.C.

that more than 90 percent of police and firefighter retirements in the past decade have been due to disability. "This whole thing has been an embarrassment and a problem to law enforcement and fire people here," said Norman Losk, chief actuary in Washington, where the state funds the local pension systems. "You want to encourage people to take these tough jobs. You want to properly compensate them. But apparently there are cases where people are getting disability and still working at other jobs and getting substantial compensation.

And that's what bruises sensibilities." Most pension experts blame inadequate rules and lax enforcement, rather than out-and-out cheating. They say police and firemen are simply taking advantage of loopholes at a time when it makes economic sense. M. Lewis Thompson, who retired last year after 23 years as manager of the City of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System, blames the rising disability rate on changing mores among city workers, "In my mind it's a matter of motivation. There's very little fakery in these retirements," Thompson said in an interview.

Thompson, who made a 44-city survey of disability pensions before he retired, found that such retirements had increased more than 20 percent in three years. The leading disability cause is heart trouble, followed by mental problems and bad backs, Thompson found ailments not always easy to prove or disprove. Union officials, like Mike Smith of Frailey TVnl II -lYllll-" the regulations governing disability in Seattle." He said disability rules formulated in 1970 do not even define what is meant by "disability." And although the state pays the pensions, disability rulings are made at the local level. In 1977 the Washington legislature tightened these rules, but the changes affect only those hired since October of that year. Thus the rate of disability retirement in Seattle is still around 90 percent, said Clarence Stoor of the Firemen's Pension Board.

So many disability retirements inevitably increase taxes. In 1968, pensions cost Washington, D.C, tax the International Association tof Firemen in Washington state, concede that abuses exist in some cities but argue that these are "the most dangerous jobs in the world." National Safety Council studies support Smith's contention that police and firemen face greater job hazards than practically anyone. But how does job danger explain why Seattle has 90 percent of its police and fire retirees on disability pensions, while the disability retirement rate among Chicago firefighters is about 9 percent? Losk explained it this way: "You could drive a Mack truck through Mr. and Mrs. Hursel Nichols Mr.

and Mrs. Hursel Nichols of Clinton will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a reception from 2 to 4' p.m. Sunday at the Clinton Elks Club. Friends and relatives are invited. Mr.

Nichols and the former Louise Grimsley were married May 25, 1930, in Clinton. They are retired florists. They are the parents of Ann Jackson of Heyworth. There are tvo grandchildren. -J Mr.

and Mrs. HakJen Frailey Mr. and Mrs. Halden Frailey of will celebrate their 50th wedding an Diet Ready company solves fat problems Ruffini niversary at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the American Legion Hall, Herrick.

Friends and relatives are invited. Mr. Frailey and the former Bertha Carries were married on May 29, 1930, in rural Cowden. They are the parents of Mrs. Beryl (Eleanor) Cole of Paxton and Dr.

Ker-mit Frailey of Chrisman. There are nine grandchildren. McCartney Mr. and Mrs. Ira M.

McCartney of Cisco will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday (June 1, 1980) in the Cisco United Methodist Church. Friends and relatives are invited. Mr. McCartney and the former Mar-jorie Hamilton were married June 3, Mr.

and Mrs. Delfino Ruffini of 3918 Newcastle Drive will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary at a party for family and friends from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Disabled American Veterans Club, 1700 N. Lake Shore Drive. Mr.

Ruffini and the former Caroline Bomball were married May 22, 1955 in Decatur. Mr. Ruffini is employed by Caterpillar Tractor Co. Mrs. Ruffini is a secretary at State Farm Insurance Co.

They are the parents of Jill Marie, Roc eo Antonio and Julie Louise, all of Decatur. 175 pounds and he has a 32-inch waist. Dachman said that after attending the Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Institute at Michael Reese Hospital when he graduated from 8th grade he began meeting people and slowly learned to be an independent individual. He went on a diet and lost 250 pounds in less than a year. It was done by just eating three, nutritious meals a day, he said.

Dachman finished high school with a 3.8 grade average, out of a possible 4.0, and attended college. He said his Diet Ready company grew out of a club he formed that had 1,000 fat members. CHICAGO (AP) At age 13 he weighed 410 pounds, had a 64-inch waist, snacked on 10 Twinkies, and was taunted and rejected. Ken Dachman remembers years of torment a boy trying to find a seat big enough on which to sit down; a boy who couldn't see his feet, who couldn't cross his legs, who could just barely put on his socks. Now, at age 21, he owns the Diet Ready company in suburban Arlington Heights, selling a system of losing weight and how to prepare-psychologically to do it.

His six-foot frame carries I 1 Hit' Xf Js 4 i fZ I 4 it 1 Is i i it 1 -i ARY ANN To celebrate wonderful years in our Brettwood A IT TTV Village Store, Burstein's are offering their most fabulous Oil JLilCLi Entire Summer Stock Downtown and Brettwood Village The Invisible Touch You Barely Feel or See TO Save at least Experience Bodysilk! Olga's created it to fit and feel like silky young skin in front-closing all-stretch bras you barely know are there. Like naked, only nicer! Soft nylonspandex and there's one for almost every type of figure. NOTHING HELD BACK ALL BRANDS INCLUDED Dresses Sportswear 0 Blouses Coats Suits Remember: PRICES GOOD DOWNTOWN and BRETTWOOD VILLAGE (LIMITED TIME ONLY) 201 north main Downtown Decatur.